Mailchimp or Brevo Standard: what to check before signing

What to take away

The recommendation: Mailchimp Standard Marketing

A search for “email marketing software best providers” can suggest a universal ranking. This is narrower: it sets out what to check in Mailchimp Standard Marketing and Brevo Standard before you sign, and what their checked plan pages do and do not establish. Among the two, Mailchimp is the pick on the public contracting paper trail; the spreadsheet is a third, manual baseline. This is not a claim that Mailchimp delivers better inbox placement or suits every team.

The comparison covers three things you can check before signing: who you contract with, what a contact export contains, and how consent records travel with your list. It does not compare prices, sending limits or inbox placement; those come from each supplier's written quote and your own test send.

Mailchimp's pricing-plan explainer describes the Standard Marketing edition and states that the plan and the contact tier set the monthly bill. Its data processing addendum names The Rocket Science Group LLC trading as Mailchimp.

That naming matters. You can see who you would contract with before your reviewer asks.

Buy on the paper trail, then prove the sending. A recommendation is a starting point for your own test.

Brevo Standard is a reasonable second. Brevo SAS is the company name to check against the entity on your UK order form and data processing agreement. Its pages identify the edition and describe a clean contact export, but the product page alone is not proof of the terms that will govern your account.

Brevo Standard: the runner-up, and when it fits

Brevo's plan record lists Standard inside a wider product family. Its export procedure lets a user choose contact attributes, subscription information and a CSV separator.

That suits teams who want to inspect their own data. A separate first-party page points customers to Brevo's data processing agreement, a pointer rather than proof of your terms.

Choose Brevo when a CSV-first workflow outweighs a published contracting entity. Choose Mailchimp when you want those answers before you ask.

If your list grows, document your assumptions and review triggers in a planning template for email software, rather than treating a plan name as a service specification.

What the checked plan pages establish

The checked plan pages identify the edition and contact tier; that does not establish that the two offers are equivalent in contract terms or data handling. Match the exact edition on each order form to its data processing agreement, and confirm the contracting entity, renewal, export, deletion and support terms.

Record the confirmed edition and contact tier for your current list and forecast list. Ask each supplier to confirm those details in writing, then compare the order form and data processing agreement against the same checks.

Before you sign, review the contract areas to review for email software, including data processing, retention and deletion, support, termination and the right to export your audience.

Deliverability evidence to demand before you pay

Deliverability rests on domain reputation, authentication and complaint rates, not on the checkout page. Ask each supplier which SPF and DKIM records it requires, whether it supports DMARC, and how it measures and reports complaints.

DMARC policies are p=none, p=quarantine and p=reject; ask what policy the supplier recommends and what reporting it supports before moving from monitoring to enforcement. Authentication records live in the DNS zone served by your DNS host, which may be your registrar or a separate provider. Confirm who controls access to those records and who makes changes.

Check domain reputation with Google Postmaster Tools and whether the sending domain or IP appears on Spamhaus blocklists; neither check replaces the supplier's own evidence. Ask what happens to your sending reputation and audience data when you leave. A supplier who cannot answer these questions fails your test.

Example: a repeatable 50-contact test

Prepare one CSV of 50 test contacts using addresses your team controls, with identical fields, one objection and the same operator limits for each route. Run the test in Mailchimp's Audience and Brevo's Contacts, as well as against the spreadsheet baseline.

Pass marks are zero sends after objection, a complete audit trail and a full restore. Fail on lost suppression, an unexplained privileged change or incomplete recovery, and stop.

UK permission rules that no plan removes

The ICO's guidance on direct marketing using electronic mail explains that the type of subscriber and the circumstances of the send decide whether consent is needed. PECR regulation 22 governs unsolicited direct marketing by electronic mail to individual subscribers, including the consent rules and the soft opt-in.

For personal data, UK GDPR also requires a lawful basis for processing; PECR permission and a UK GDPR lawful basis are separate checks. Record the basis, source and date for every contact you import, and carry that record across when you migrate. Check the ICO's data protection fee self-assessment to see whether your organisation must pay the fee and register; some organisations are exempt.

When the manual baseline still wins

If all four hold and your sending is small and infrequent, improve the spreadsheet's evidence instead of buying. If any box is empty, buy or fix that gap first.

For another supplier, repeat the same checks: contracting entity, export fields, permission records, authentication controls and account roles. The desk-only shortlist records these evidence categories so you can apply them consistently.

Common questions

These are the questions teams raise most often when they weigh up the two plans.

Is Mailchimp or Brevo the better buy for an England business?

On the evidence reviewed here, Mailchimp Standard Marketing is the safer default because its published addendum names The Rocket Science Group LLC trading as Mailchimp. Choose Brevo Standard when a CSV-first export workflow matters more, and confirm that Brevo SAS is the entity on your UK order form and data processing agreement.

Why is there no single UK price?

The suppliers' offers depend on edition and contact tier, and the account terms may differ. The checked pages do not establish a like-for-like UK offer, so confirm the edition, contact tier, currency and billing terms directly with each supplier before deciding.

Do I still need permission checks after I buy?

Yes. The ICO guidance applies whatever software you use, and no plan can record a permission you never had.